Readings & Rantings: The Last Guardian Vs. Hancock
Readings: The Last Guardian
“As long as there are Guardians, there is Order. And as long as there is Order, the parts
are there to be played. Decisions made millennia ago set both your path and mine. It is part of greater
cycle, one that has held us all in its sway.”
- The Tresspasser.
I sing high praise of this book.
Now, the Last Guardian is one of my favorite canonal warcraft stories. Period.
The characters are RICH, HILARIOUS, REALISTIC, and I find myself hard-pressed to hate a retired old wizard made of distilled awesome and possessed by TEH DEVIL SINCE HE WAS A KID, overcoming his demonic past, and his student, a magician who was a wee bit too curious for Dalaran, and thus sent here to old bearded Guardian.
Plot summery: Medivh is the last Guardian of Tirisfal, an order which lasted many ages, and was founded by Elves to combat the rising tide of demonic activity in Azeroth. He is quite insane for an assistant protagonist, but then again, he was possessed by SATAN when he was a fetus, so we'll excuse that. Regardless, he makes for excellent horror material even though the book has a general mentoring and heartwarming side.
Khedgar is soon to be his student, sent from Dalaran to spy on Medivh, for the latter is a great person, although Khedger knows very little on exactly why he is famous so. The story begins with the young man heading to Karazan, Medivh's tower, and the events of the book show us the Alliance side of the First War, as well as many foreshadowing done excellently, by my standards. First Orc raiders attack the countryside, and Lord Lothar of Stormwind is sent to investigate, as well as Medivh, and with him, his student Khedgar.
The plot is initially following Khedgar's days living in Karazan, but soon it takes a turn as Medivh begins to change, and queer things are afoot with the Last Guardian of Azeroth, and the days draw closer to the end of the madness that took him. Khedgar learns more of his past with his friends and allies, but then the breaking point splinters the Alliance; Medivh betrays all of Azeroth as he opens the gate to Draenor, allowing an entire civilization of Orcs to wreck havoc, and charge at Stormwind, destroying the backbone of the humans and the first opposer to the Orcish invasion.
The end comes when Lothar, Kedgar, and Garona (a half-orc double-spy) head out to meet out justice to Medivh, and the climax comes when Khedgar loopes off the head of his beloved mentor.
The story ends with a semi-cliffhanger, opening the road to the next books, and to the life of me, this is much better than anything WoW could crack up. Chris Metzen, why have you changed!
Plot: 9.2 / 10
There were a few things that weren't really necessary, but went along with the over plot. The story was sort of a diary at the beginning, but it soon grew a better prose and excellent character development points.
Characters: 10/10
Can't say anything more. The book is too short to give actual character development, but what is served leaves no thought in my mind that this is one of the best Warcraft novels out there. I kid you not.
Length: 8 / 10
The book isn't long for hardcore readers, but it leaves a good taste and is good for light readings or people who want to learn the lore of Warcraft.
Prose: 9/10
May show hints to purple prose, but all that is illusion; the book presents itself excellently and uses every plot element it can get its hands on.
Award:
Best Warcraft book to date.
Psyblade's Best Example of Vicious Horde Before Being Romantisized Into Peace-Loving Morons.
Best Book To Read Before Playing Warcraft III
Rantings: Hancock
Hancock...there is no words to say how much I hate Hancock.
Make no mistake; I like Will Smith a lot, but I cannot believe how much sharks this movie jumped in...well...ONE MOVIE!
This movie sent me on two plots, one was interesting and hilarious, the other was boring and unelaborated.
Part one: Hancock is a drunkard super "hero" who plagues his city with his "Crime-Fighting". A well-intentioning extremist, he really does make a strange and curious character, and I would have loved to explore that further.
Part two: A PR expert comes up to Hancock and says, "We'll make a hero out of you!".
...
What is this? A campaign offer? This doesn't classify as anything that makes sense! I mean--shouldn't there be like...an order...of superheroes that take him in or something? What does this puny man have?!
Now, this is not what pissed me off. Actually, it was how this movie fell into a traditional Superhero cliche' movie, and, yes, I liked the old one better. I really would have enjoyed to explore how a drunken hero with superpowers deals with the world, not some vague "Some call us angels, some call us spirits" crap that was totally RANDOM AND OUT OF THE BLUE.
The PR dude's wife turns out to be a superhero. Why? I don't know! It's just like that!
Now, if the wife told the man, "Find a superhero and do this shit", I woudl buy it, but it's just so random! If the PR dude can make money out of it, I'll be glad, but it sounds too much like Plot Conveience than Alturism.
Curse the laptop; my keyboard is heating up and my hands can't take writing any longer. I may continue this more, but maybe not.
Plot: 9 / 10 for the first part. It's intruiging, funny and awesome.
Plot: 2 / 10 for the second. It's boring, foreseeable and cliche.
Characters:
Hancock gets a 7 / 10.
PR Dude gets 4 / 10 (thing is randomly funny).
PR Dude's Wife gets a flat Zero. Not interesting, not funny, not shit.
Villain(s) get(s) zero.
Movie:
Since I watched it 'till the ending, I'm giving it a flat-out 2/10.
I felt frustrated after watching it. They Wasted a Perfecty Good Plot is the trope for me! Curse the movie!
Next post is experimenting with prose.
“As long as there are Guardians, there is Order. And as long as there is Order, the parts
are there to be played. Decisions made millennia ago set both your path and mine. It is part of greater
cycle, one that has held us all in its sway.”
- The Tresspasser.
I sing high praise of this book.
Now, the Last Guardian is one of my favorite canonal warcraft stories. Period.
The characters are RICH, HILARIOUS, REALISTIC, and I find myself hard-pressed to hate a retired old wizard made of distilled awesome and possessed by TEH DEVIL SINCE HE WAS A KID, overcoming his demonic past, and his student, a magician who was a wee bit too curious for Dalaran, and thus sent here to old bearded Guardian.
Plot summery: Medivh is the last Guardian of Tirisfal, an order which lasted many ages, and was founded by Elves to combat the rising tide of demonic activity in Azeroth. He is quite insane for an assistant protagonist, but then again, he was possessed by SATAN when he was a fetus, so we'll excuse that. Regardless, he makes for excellent horror material even though the book has a general mentoring and heartwarming side.
Khedgar is soon to be his student, sent from Dalaran to spy on Medivh, for the latter is a great person, although Khedger knows very little on exactly why he is famous so. The story begins with the young man heading to Karazan, Medivh's tower, and the events of the book show us the Alliance side of the First War, as well as many foreshadowing done excellently, by my standards. First Orc raiders attack the countryside, and Lord Lothar of Stormwind is sent to investigate, as well as Medivh, and with him, his student Khedgar.
The plot is initially following Khedgar's days living in Karazan, but soon it takes a turn as Medivh begins to change, and queer things are afoot with the Last Guardian of Azeroth, and the days draw closer to the end of the madness that took him. Khedgar learns more of his past with his friends and allies, but then the breaking point splinters the Alliance; Medivh betrays all of Azeroth as he opens the gate to Draenor, allowing an entire civilization of Orcs to wreck havoc, and charge at Stormwind, destroying the backbone of the humans and the first opposer to the Orcish invasion.
The end comes when Lothar, Kedgar, and Garona (a half-orc double-spy) head out to meet out justice to Medivh, and the climax comes when Khedgar loopes off the head of his beloved mentor.
The story ends with a semi-cliffhanger, opening the road to the next books, and to the life of me, this is much better than anything WoW could crack up. Chris Metzen, why have you changed!
Plot: 9.2 / 10
There were a few things that weren't really necessary, but went along with the over plot. The story was sort of a diary at the beginning, but it soon grew a better prose and excellent character development points.
Characters: 10/10
Can't say anything more. The book is too short to give actual character development, but what is served leaves no thought in my mind that this is one of the best Warcraft novels out there. I kid you not.
Length: 8 / 10
The book isn't long for hardcore readers, but it leaves a good taste and is good for light readings or people who want to learn the lore of Warcraft.
Prose: 9/10
May show hints to purple prose, but all that is illusion; the book presents itself excellently and uses every plot element it can get its hands on.
Award:
Best Warcraft book to date.
Psyblade's Best Example of Vicious Horde Before Being Romantisized Into Peace-Loving Morons.
Best Book To Read Before Playing Warcraft III
Rantings: Hancock
Hancock...there is no words to say how much I hate Hancock.
Make no mistake; I like Will Smith a lot, but I cannot believe how much sharks this movie jumped in...well...ONE MOVIE!
This movie sent me on two plots, one was interesting and hilarious, the other was boring and unelaborated.
Part one: Hancock is a drunkard super "hero" who plagues his city with his "Crime-Fighting". A well-intentioning extremist, he really does make a strange and curious character, and I would have loved to explore that further.
Part two: A PR expert comes up to Hancock and says, "We'll make a hero out of you!".
...
What is this? A campaign offer? This doesn't classify as anything that makes sense! I mean--shouldn't there be like...an order...of superheroes that take him in or something? What does this puny man have?!
Now, this is not what pissed me off. Actually, it was how this movie fell into a traditional Superhero cliche' movie, and, yes, I liked the old one better. I really would have enjoyed to explore how a drunken hero with superpowers deals with the world, not some vague "Some call us angels, some call us spirits" crap that was totally RANDOM AND OUT OF THE BLUE.
The PR dude's wife turns out to be a superhero. Why? I don't know! It's just like that!
Now, if the wife told the man, "Find a superhero and do this shit", I woudl buy it, but it's just so random! If the PR dude can make money out of it, I'll be glad, but it sounds too much like Plot Conveience than Alturism.
Curse the laptop; my keyboard is heating up and my hands can't take writing any longer. I may continue this more, but maybe not.
Plot: 9 / 10 for the first part. It's intruiging, funny and awesome.
Plot: 2 / 10 for the second. It's boring, foreseeable and cliche.
Characters:
Hancock gets a 7 / 10.
PR Dude gets 4 / 10 (thing is randomly funny).
PR Dude's Wife gets a flat Zero. Not interesting, not funny, not shit.
Villain(s) get(s) zero.
Movie:
Since I watched it 'till the ending, I'm giving it a flat-out 2/10.
I felt frustrated after watching it. They Wasted a Perfecty Good Plot is the trope for me! Curse the movie!
Next post is experimenting with prose.